How to Start a Blog: Blogging is one of the best ways to Earn Money Online.
Starting a blog in 2024 has become easier than ever before.
You don’t need to have any prerequisite knowledge about coding or web design to get started.
All you need are the right tools and direction to get your professional blog running in quick time.
So, before jumping into how to start a blog. Let’s take a look at some of the tips to make a successful blog.
Table of Contents
Tips to Make A Successful Blog
Ever wondered how some of your favorite bloggers started?
Well, you can also become a successful blogger by following some of these tips:
1. Choose A Blogging Platform
You can select from an array of free blogging platforms available on the internet. To avoid other first-time bloggers’ pitfalls, you’d need to look out for the following factors:
Ease to set up – A newbie should pick a blogging platform that doesn’t require a complex learning process or coding skills.
Purpose – The blog’s purpose is vital. If you intend to expand your blog as time goes on, you need a platform that’s not only ingenious but capable of adjusting to growth.
Having a plan for your blog would help you avoid any difficulty in switching to another blogging platform.
Budget – Depending on your budget, you may choose a blogging platform that suits you. A blogging platform with premium features doesn’t come free, so you’d need to pay for it.
Skill level – If you’re new to blogging, you need a user-friendly platform that’s not above your skill level.
2. Find a Niche
A blog with a specialized niche gives you an extra edge with search engines and creates a loyal set of interested readers.
3. Make Sure You’re Passionate About Your Niche
Readers can identify a passionate writer. When you’re passionate about what you’re writing about, you’ll end up being good at what you do.
4. Add Value to Your Content
Readers crave value for their time. Ensure you create valuable content that will drive traffic to your website and make readers return.
5. Attract Readers to Your Blog
You would have to put in deliberate efforts to attract readers to your blog.
Endeavor to leave your comments on other people’s blog posts or use effective keywords research tools to know what topics readers are excited about.
6. Stimulate Interactions
Encouraging interaction is a good way of building a community of loyal fans. Get them to leave comments and always try to respond to contributions.
7. Use Images
Pictures can be very captivating. They can also give adequate information within a short period. Use images to make your posts interesting and attract readers.
8. Post Regularly
Besides giving your blog posts intriguing titles and making text easy to read, you should post regularly.
As a beginner, you can start with one or two articles per week, so you don’t burn out.
9. Monitor Your Progress
You can know the number of people that visit your blog and the keywords they search before visiting.
With this, you’ll have an idea of your readers’ desires and write posts to suit their needs.
10. Create A Personal Feel
Interestingly, readers like connecting to blog owners on a personal level.
Make your blog more endearing to your readers by revealing a more personal side.
Necessary Tools for Starting A Blog
Now that we’ve seen some tips you need to make you a successful blogger. Let’s take a detailed look at how to start a blog with some necessary tool as discussed below:
1. WordPress
The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. This blogging platform powers over 30% of websites on the internet.
WordPress.org is a pacesetter in the blogging business. Unlike other blogging platforms, it’s completely free.
You mustn’t confuse WordPresss.org as a content management system to WordPress.com, a blog hosting service.
Since its launch in 2003, WordPress has remained the world’s largest content management system and an application development framework.
It allows you to build any website at no cost. You can customize WordPress to your own needs without any limitations.
You would need to register your domain name and web hosting to get started.
Unlike other website builders, WordPress keeps design, content, and functionality are separated from each other.
Pros:
- User-friendly CMS: It’s easy to organize content without having any expert knowledge in website management. Admins can easily navigate the back end of their WordPress site, edit pages, and upload new content.
- SEO: WordPress ranks impressively in promoting the use of SEO. The blogging platform comes with numerous plugins to help optimize content, keywords, and meta tags.
- Responsive Themes: There are several themes available on WordPress, and they’re responsive.
- Extra Features: WordPress allows you to develop your blog by adding extra features such as an online store, forums, and paid membership.
Cons:
- Updates are not always straightforward.
- The platform is extensible, but it may require ample knowledge of coding to deliver what you want.
- Customization with premium plugins can quickly become expensive.
- Heavy dependence on plugins can slow down a WordPress website.
2. Domain Name
In setting up a blog, you would need a domain name. Some beginners are usually confused between a domain name and a website hosting service.
What’s a domain name?
The domain name is what a user types in their browser’s address bar to visit your website.
How does a domain name work?
The internet is the biggest network of computers in the world. They can communicate with each other, and an IP address identifies each one.
Every computer has a unique IP address that consists of a serious of figures.
The challenge of getting to remember an IP address gave rise to the domain name that’s more convenient and easier to remember.
When a domain name is typed on a browser, a signal is sent to a server’s global network that forms the Domain Name System (DNS).
The servers then check for the name linked with the domain and send the requests to the name servers.
Your hosting company manages the name servers and sends your request to a computer where your websites are stored.
The computer where your website is stored is called a web server.
The web server helps to retrieve the web page and other related information that is linked to it. This information is later sent back to the browser to be displayed.
Tips for choosing the right domain name:
1. Always chose dot com: While there are numerous forms of the domain name to choose from, it’s advisable to choose domain names that end in dot.com.
2. Ensure your domain name is short: Avoid going overboard in drafting your domain name. Make sure it’s easy to remember and not too lengthy.
3. Avoid hyphens and double letters: Domains with hyphens are often spam domains, so you need to stay away from them. They’re also difficult to remember.
Your site visitor may end up on your competitor’s website anytime they fail to insert the hyphen, which could be bad for business.
The same applies to domain names with double letters – they’re likely to be misspelled.
4. Choose domain names related to your niche: As simple as this may sound, some people try to get overly creative, leaving them to make mistakes common to beginners. Choose a name that’s related to your niche.
5. Research your domain name: You should research your domain name before selecting it. Ensure that you’re not picking a name that’s already been trademarked or registered as a business.
A trademark search can help you know if the domain name has already been selected and trademarked before.
It would be best if you did this to avoid a legal tussle when you pick a domain name that is already taken.
You can also learn to trademark and copyright your website name and logo once you begin using your website.
6. Use domain name generators and act immediately: Thousands of people are opening blogs daily, so selecting a unique domain name may be quite challenging.
You can use free domain name generator tools that intelligently craft a relevant domain name. Once you’ve got your domain name, ensure that you register it immediately.
A lot of people, just like you, are searching for good domain names to pick from. Someone else might choose your domain name if you delay.
3. Hosting
Web hosting entails a service that provides storage space for a website or application for a server. Other computers can access your website once it’s connected to the internet.
How does web hosting work?
Some companies rent out their services and technology to host websites on the internet. These companies are referred to as web hosts.
Once they host your website, users can reach your website by typing your domain name in their web browser.
They can connect to your computer through the server that your website is hosted on.
This server would fetch the files you have stored on the storage to display and display to visitors on their web browser.
Choosing the right hosting platform:
There are several web hosting platforms to choose from. However, several factors determine your choice.
Some factors to consider are your budget, the website’s purpose, and the level of control. You would also have to look at other factors like:
- The credibility of the web hosting provider.
- Number of customers they serve.
- Customer support of the web hosting company.
- Location of the server of the web hosting provider.
- Common web hosting platforms you can use.
- Shared hosting is one of the cheapest web hosting options available and very suitable for beginners in blogging.
- Fastcomet: It’s one of the most popular and reliable hosting providers, with over two million websites hosted on its servers. WordPress highly recommends it.
Ipage: This is probably the cheapest web hosting service you can find on the internet. Some of its hosting services are as low as $1.99 for a month. Ipage is not only budget-friendly but also reliable. They offer a free domain name registration for one year.
4. Keywords Research Tools
As a beginner, it is important to recognize that attracting traffic to your page is not as straightforward as you may have wished.
Creating your blog without proper keyword planning wouldn’t help your cause of reaching a wider audience.
Keyword research tools help you create content that people are searching for.
With them, you’re more likely to be found on search platforms like Google, YouTube, Pinterest, when you use the right keywords.
Let’s take a look at some keywords research tools you can use:
Google Threads – Google Threads is a free keyword research tool. It allows you to see the location where people are searching for different topics. It also tells users’ interest in different keywords or phrases.
With this, you can write relevant topics on your blog that will answer people’s questions and solve their problems.
Moz Keyword Explorer – This paid keyword research tool gives you detailed information such as the monthly volume of the search and organic click-through rate (CTR).
Google Search Console – You can begin to use this free keyword research tool once you verify your website.
Google search console helps you with appropriate search terms and phrases. That way, you can have improved content to boost your rankings.
Long Tail PRO – If you intend to get more Google SEO traffic, then Long Tail PRO is very effective. You can use this paid keyword research tool to find less competitive keywords.
Ubersuggest – This keyword research tool is very suitable for beginners, and it entirely free. It helps to give vital information such as the percentage of how likely you are to rank for the keyword you type in.
Conclusion
Hope you like the article on How to start a successful Blog in 2024.
Starting a blog can be an easy process, even if you’re a beginner.
You’d need to choose a blogging platform, get a niche, right relevant, informative content, and use various strategies to attract and retain visitors.
You’ll also need a domain name, a formidable platform like WordPress, hosting, and keywords research tool.
It’s essential to get the blog creation process right. Then, you can build authority in the niche of your choice.
Author’s Bio:
Charlie Svensson is an expert content writer, blogger, and freelancer. He specializes in writing SEO, marketing, blogging, social media, motivation, self-growth, and education articles. Charlie has worked in various content and assignments help organizations. He loves ice skating and watching football.